<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>This article discusses a group of South Finnic languages and/or dialects that share common phonological features. These languages and dialects are Livonian, Mulgi South Estonian, Island North Estonian and Western North Estonian, all deriving from Proto-Finnic. In contemporary Finnic taxonomy, the first language to diverge from Proto-Finnic was South Estonian, followed by Livonian, and later by North Estonian and Votic. Nevertheless, all the mentioned languages have converged after their initial divergence, resulting in an areal grouping called South Finnic. The contribution of this article is to assess linguistic features shared by the mentioned languages and dialects and what their nature can reveal. I argue that the features point to a new understanding of Finnic taxonomy in that the addition of a narrower group of Southwest Finnic can be justified as a Finnic branch.</p>
</abstract>

This article discusses a group of South Finnic languages and/or dialects that share common phonological features. These languages and dialects are Livonian, Mulgi South Estonian, Island North Estonian and Western North Estonian, all deriving from Proto-Finnic. In contemporary Finnic taxonomy, the first language to diverge from Proto-Finnic was South Estonian, followed by Livonian, and later by North Estonian and Votic. Nevertheless, all the mentioned languages have converged after their initial divergence, resulting in an areal grouping called South Finnic. The contribution of this article is to assess linguistic features shared by the mentioned languages and dialects and what their nature can reveal. I argue that the features point to a new understanding of Finnic taxonomy in that the addition of a narrower group of Southwest Finnic can be justified as a Finnic branch.

The case for Southwest Finnic: areal or genetic grouping?

Linguistic Frontiers

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"The case for Southwest Finnic: areal or genetic grouping?"}

This article discusses a group of South Finnic languages and/or dialects that share common phonological features. These languages and dialects are Livonian,...

The case for Southwest Finnic: areal or genetic grouping?

Published Online: Jul 09, 2022

Page range: 25 - 33

Received: May 01, 2022

Accepted: Jun 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2022-0007

Keywords
Southwest Finnic, Livonian, Southwest Estonian, dialectology, phonology, areal linguistics, historical linguistics

© 2022 Patrick O’Rourke, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The case for Southwest Finnic: areal or genetic grouping?

Published Online: Jul 09, 2022

Page range: 25 - 33

Received: May 01, 2022

Accepted: Jun 01, 2022

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/lf-2022-0007

KeywordsSouthwest Finnic, Livonian, Southwest Estonian, dialectology, phonology, areal linguistics, historical linguistics

© 2022 Patrick O’Rourke, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Southwest Finnic, Livonian, Southwest Estonian, dialectology, phonology, areal linguistics, historical linguistics